Runtime Technology Turning Heads in Device Test

By Paul Henderson

When Wind River introduced Sensorpoint runtime instrumentation
technology a few years ago it was well received as an enabler for the
embedded device diagnostics process. Recently however, with the
introduction of the Sensorpoint-enabled Wind River Test Management
System, this same ability to instrument device software binaries –
dynamically, on-demand and on-the-fly without stopping or reloading the
device — has been turning heads in device test and quality assurance
groups too. The need to get runtime access to device software internals
while under test is turning out to be a ‘killer app’ for device test
teams. Wind River is now providing four runtime analytic capabilities
as out-of-the-box features in its new product.

It’s often difficult for testers to measure the quality of their
test plan, optimize test execution, or know what device software has
actually been tested. Source-based code coverage tools are helpful, but
they are often too cumbersome and intrusive to be used by testers on a
regular basis in actual target devices. Wind River Test Management uses
Sensorpoint dynamic instrumentation to detect and record specifically
what software functions within a build were tested or – more
importantly – were NOT tested. This runtime code coverage
capability can be enabled and disabled by testers on-demand for
specific modules and test runs, letting testers and their managers know
how much of their device is actually being tested for each test run or
cumulatively over a set of runs.

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